Hackers threaten to bring down Xbox and PlayStation networks on Christmas

A new hacker group is threatening to take down the PlayStationNetwork and Xbox Live, just in time for people to open their new video games on Christmas.

The "Phantom Squad" has been tweeting about its plans for several weeks.

The hackers have already claimed responsibility for other outages on the gaming platforms earlier this year, as well as a recent Reddit outage.

"We will take down servers on christmas Or christmas eve Who Knows? Its up to you Will you waste Your Money On a console This christmas to find that It is #Offline?" the group posted in a series of tweets last week.

Phantom Squad claims that it is motivated to take down the Xbox and PlayStation networks to prove that Microsoft and Sony don't invest enough in cyber security.

"Xbox Live and PSN have millions upon millions of dollars... but do they use that money for better security? No. ... So until they open their eyes Xbox Live and PSN will remain vulnerable," Phantom Squad tweeted on Wednesday.

I get asked a lot on why we do this? Why do we take down PSN and Xbox Live? Because cyber security does not exist.